Frequently Asked Questions
Server Operator Information
Question
Answer
How do I enable fast in game downloads on my Source server?
Fast in game downloads work for all Source games, DODS, HL2DM and CSS, TF2.
A few things to do:
1) Autodownloads should be from a file download server separate from your game server.
http://www.yourwebsite.com/downloads/modname/auto
Files should be uploaded to their correct directory structures
<modname>/maps
<modname>/sound/<your sounds="sounds" folders="folders">
<modname>/materials - if you have custom skins etc
2)You direct your game server to download from your file server with the following cvars
In your game server.cfg file
//map downloads
sv_allowupload 0
sv_allowdownload 1
sv_downloadurl "http://www.yourwebsite.com/downloads/dods/auto"
If players are having trouble downloading bigger maps, you can also add in
net_maxfilesize 30 (or 40 or 50 just make it bigger than the file that is needed to be downloaded)
3) If there is more than just the *.bsp make a *.res file of the map's other required files. If the map only has a bsp file, go to step #4.
This file is tells the server what files to download to support the bsp file.
The res file can be created manually in this format, in Notepad as *txt and then saved as mapname.res
The format of the file is:
-----------------------------------------------
"resources"
{
"blabla.txt" "file"
"sounds/blabla2.txt" "file"
}
-------------------------------------------------
Note the "file" parameter, the .res file consists of key values pairs
and each value parameter must be "file" for map resource files.
The res file is needed for both in game downloading and for the http
external downloader.
On your file download host server, put map files in actual directory structure
..downloads/modname/auto/maps
..downloads/modname/auto/materials
..downloads/modname/auto/models
etc
4) Source maps are notoriously large. Bzip2 compression makes the file size manageable.
They are downloaded in compressed form to the client and Source itself unzips them.
**updated for Windows 7 Users **
Bzip2 is not fully supported for Windows 7
7-zip is an alternative program.
Install the 7-zip program. Open the 7zip File Manager
Browse to the desired *.bsp file
Right click --> select 7-zip from the menu
Select "add to archive"
Select "Compression Method Bz2" and "Ok"
Older Method - Windows XP Supported
Download Bzip2
( More info on main site http://www.bzip.org/downloads.html )
====================
SETUP FOR WINDOWS
====================
1. Move the download file (make sure it is for windows) into an empty folder in your default harddisk called "bzip2".
(without the quotes)
So an example of the path to the downloaded file's FOLDER would look like:
C:\bzip2
Change C to your default hardisk
2. Rename the file "bzip2.exe" (don't use the quotes)
3. Add your .BSP files that you want compressed into the bzip2 folder.
=================
BZIPPING for WINDOWS
=================
1. Go to Start menu > Run and enter "cmd" (without quotes) into the text area.
2. Click ok and a black window should open.
3. type:
cd C:\bzip2
Again, changing C to your default harddisk then press ENTER.
4. Now type:
bzip2 -v filename.bsp
Replace filename.bsp with your map name.
5. This will compress your .bsp file. To bzip another, press the up arrow and change the filename.
6. Once you have compressed all of your .bsp files, upload them to your WEBSERVER into the correct location, i.e.
"www.domain.com /game/maps"
and delete the non-zipped versions.
5) Upload the map itself , with all files in the correct directory structure, to the game server
Add the names of the new maps to the mapcycle.txt and maplist.txt files in the root mod directory.
</modname></your></modname></modname>
How can I generate a complete list of my server's maps?
This procedure takes about 2 minutes to complete
1) Log onto your Server
Click on Start --> Run
Type in the Open: field,
cmd
This opens the old
MsDos Prompt Window
2) Switch to your map directory by typing in its location and hit Enter
It should look something like this,
cd C:\YourGameServerName\dod\maps
(if you dont know it, right click on the map directory, select properties and copy and paste the line you see in Location)
3)Then copy and paste this line into the command line
dir *.bsp /L /B >filelist.txt
Enter
This will generate a list of ALL .bsp files in the map directory as a file called filelist.txt
The list gives the names of all maps with the .bsp extension.
Remember, the maplist.txt file can not be read with the bsp extension in the name
4) To remove all the .bsp extensions in one step, simply open filelist.txt with Notepad
Click on Edit in the toolbar
Select Replace
Type in the Find What: field, .bsp
Leave Replace with: field empty
Click on Replace All button. Done
5) Save the final document as maplist.txt and paste into the server root dod directory
Thanks to [I&S] Pvt_John for this slick trick. :)
